How Can Obama Get His Mojo Back In the State of the Union? Study Bill Clinton

The White House says President Barack Obama will propose in his State of the Union address a plan to impose higher taxes on the wealthy and use the revenue to help middle-class families. Congress would have to agree, and lawmakers have rebuffed Obama’s earlier proposals to eliminate certain tax provisions and spend the money on road and bridge repair, for example. Others are people the president met over the past few weeks as he has traveled the country, playing spoiler to his speech, announcing initiatives such as a free community college plan, faster Internet service and paid sick leave. In his interview with White House senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer, Schieffer took particular issue with the White House’s plan to increase taxes of those making over $500k, which would need Republican approval in both houses of Congress. From expanded health coverage to broadening a tax credit for workers, the president also wants to put more money in the pockets of lower-income earners.

His plans face opposition from the Republican-run Congress, which wants to cut taxes and spending. “Now that the economy’s in a stronger place than it’s been in a very long time, we need to double down on our efforts to deal with wage stagnation and declining economic mobility,” Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama, said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “In divided government, each side should lay out their agenda, what they think is in the best interest of the country. Watching him speak to a packed Congress was like watching Barbra Streisand sing, Michael Jackson moonwalk, Tiger Woods golf, or Steve Jobs pitch a product.

Pfeiffer: do you in any way shape or form believe that a new Republican Congress is going to do what a Congress that had Democrats and Republicans in control would not do? Raising the capital gains rate, ending the break on inheritances and imposing a fee on financial firms would generate $320 billion in revenue over a decade, according to administration estimates. Obama has read letters from people each night throughout his presidency as a way to stay connected with Americans and hear their hopes, fears, hardships and accomplishments. “It’s one of the most important things I do — it’s right there next to my national security briefing and whatever policy issues that we’re supposed to be working on — because it reminds me of why I ran for office,” Obama said in Denver in July. “And so I have a chance just to hear from people as they tell their stories.” The president spent the summer meeting with many of these writers, taking them out for dinner or coffee. While workers at the bottom have been aided by government transfer payments, the picture is grim: Transfers boosted after-tax 2011 income for the bottom fifth from $15,500 — based solely on earnings from work — to $24,100, according to a November 2014 Congressional Budget Office analysis that uses different data than the Census report. The safety net stabilized income in the 2007-2009 recession and its aftermath, said Richard Reeves, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Obama invited a few of those people, including Rebekah Erler of Minneapolis, an accountant and mother of two young children who wrote to the president after her husband’s construction business failed. —Boost retirement savings by automatically enrolling in an Individual Retirement Account people who don’t have access to a workplace retirement plan, and expand access to employer retirement plans for certain part-time workers.

Transfer payments don’t have the same quality-of-life value as earning money from work, said Mark Calabria, director of financial-regulation studies at the Cato Institute in Washington and a former Republican Senate aide. Both position paper and performance piece, the Address must pitch policies in proportion while showcasing the president in a way that entrances 535 Members of Congress in person and millions watching it at home.

Amid low wage growth, he said, “the bottom fifth has not done well.” “Our job now is to make sure that every American feels that they’re a part of our country’s comeback,” he said in his Jan. 17 weekly radio address. Income inequality has assumed a central place in the evolving 2016 presidential campaign, with would-be candidates of both parties tripping over themselves to champion the interests of a struggling middle class–the rich be damned. For more on why and how the prospective candidates are addressing the concentration of wealth in the U.S., read Peter Nicholas’s full post in Washington Wire. After Clinton so carefully crafted a role as America’s “Good Father” in 1996, Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr was now investigating Clinton’s weaknesses as a bad husband.

CAP, founded by Obama counselor and expected Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, released proposals last week that it says will promote prosperity for all. This administration isn’t new to ambitious plans to benefit the poor: The president’s health law is intended to offer low-income Americans stability through insurance. The morning of the speech, Day 7 of the scandal, the newspapers featured Clinton’s passionate denial: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” On NBC’s “Today” Show, Hillary Clinton counterattacked against the “vast right wing conspiracy” targeting her husband since 1992.

Top lawmakers on congressional intelligence committees say the U.S. and other nations must intensify their focus on potential “sleeper” terrorist cells in Western countries following the recent attacks in Paris and the arrest of terror suspects across Europe. On talk shows yesterday, Sen. (R., N.C.), the new chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. (D., Conn.), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, both said the U.S. also needs to work to ensure allies in the Middle East aren’t aiding terrorism. The latest plan, released on Saturday, would increase the top tax rate on capital gains and dividends to 28 percent from 23.8 percent and impose capital-gains taxes on asset transfers at death. Plus: Belgian authorities are seeking the extradition of one of four people detained in Athens in connection with a foiled plot to attack police in Belgium, as officials across Europe sought to tighten security … Clashes erupted across the capital of Yemen, a cornerstone of the U.S. counterterrorism program in the region, as Houthi militants demanded a greater say in the crafting of the country’s constitution … Protests in Niger left 10 people dead as rioters torched churches, wrecked bars and blocked major roads during two days of demonstrations against the cover of French magazine Charlie Hebdo depicting the Prophet Muhammad … The European Union will challenge a ruling by the bloc’s second highest court striking Hamas off the region’s terror list … Seven Israeli Arabs were indicted in an Israeli court for establishing a local cell of the Islamic State militant group.

Obama would also consolidate several education tax breaks into a single tax credit worth up to $2,500, and is proposing to end taxation of some student loan debt forgiven under income-based repayment plans. Earlier this month, he announced that the Federal Housing Administration would cut its mortgage-insurance premiums by about 37 percent, enough to save most borrowers $900 a year on their loan payments. Let’s give them a hand.” As the Democrats applauded the squirming Republicans, he beamed: “That’s great.” With that mischievous maneuver, Clinton spoke over the Republicans’ heads directly to the American people, emphasizing the bipartisanship most Americans want but both parties frequently fail to provide. While again calling for “a government that is a progressive instrument of the common good, rooted in our oldest values of opportunity, responsibility and community,” Clinton tried mobilizing support for Social Security reform. Wage growth remains tepid, and falling gas prices, a boon to the middle class, have done little to help low-income Americans, who often don’t drive.

She has gotten both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree since being laid off from her full-time position in 2009 yet only landed a part-time, $20,000 job as a community organizer in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) and Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) said their bill would impose the sanctions only if Iran and U.S. diplomats miss a July deadline for a deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.

Under the plan, about 7.7 million workers would qualify for a larger credit and 5.8 million more would become newly eligible, according to an administration analysis. Obama also called on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25, which would benefit 28 million Americans, according to the Department of Labor. Bush marveled, “Now I understand why he’s inside looking out, and I’m outside looking in.” Since his first inaugural address, Obama has failed to wow Americans with his speeches, as he did so effectively during his 2008 campaign. ALSO IN THE NEWS: BP PLC’s lawyers plan to argue that the drop in oil prices should weigh into the U.S. fines it faces from the 2010 Gulf oil spill … New York Gov.

Andrew Cuomo, who has been mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, is expected to announce that he will lead a trade mission to Cuba in the coming months … Multiple gunshots were fired from a speeding vehicle outside Vice President Joe Biden‘s Delaware residence over the weekend … Investigators say they have so far detected no sign that terrorism or pilot suicide played a role in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hasn’t formally declared a run for presidency, although several pieces of a future campaign are coming together. With unemployment down but GDP up, Obama finally can deliver some of the good news his predecessor was lucky enough to sprinkle throughout his speeches. Obama can flummox Republicans and appeal to the public by seizing the center rather than lurching left, acting as president of all the people, not a partisan leader of the opposition-to-the-opposition.

At 8 a.m., Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson delivers remarks and participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at Martin Luther King Memorial on the National Mall. He might even integrate it all into a coherent, comprehensible, and accessible vision such as Clinton’s opportunity-responsibility-community mantra, so Americans have a sense of forward momentum. But Clinton also conveyed an intense, authentic, infectious love of the people, the policies, and the politics that disarmed many Republicans, thrilled many Democrats, and wooed many independents. Condon Jr. for National Journal. “That is a theme oft-repeated by presidents who have lost their way in Congress.” In a sign of the times, for the first time in five years as many Americans say defending the U.S. against terrorism (76%) should be a top policy priority as cite the need to strengthen the economy (75%), the Pew Research Center reports. Tobin for Commentary. “While they cannot fight every battle to the last ditch with Obama, this is one on which they can count on significant Democratic support.” Rep.

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